The Rundown - Lords of Butetown II Exhibition

Friday night saw hordes of skaters and art-appreciators descend on Church Street to marvel at the wondrous artwork of some of Cardiff's biggest legends.

First up, we wanna say a massive thank you to everyone who came down for the exhibition. After a day of blood, sweat, and tears (mostly sweat) from all the boys getting everything set up, it was sick to see such a big turnout. But one question still remains: where the fuck was Hemmy? In just about one day, the shop was transformed from the world's freshest skate shop into Cardiff's most budget art gallery. Luckily nothing fell on anyone though so I guess it was a success.

To celebrate the launch of Reid Allen's 'Lords of Butetown II' zine, the exhibition featured artwork from all the artists featured in the zine: Reid Allen, Lloyd Houston, Lee 'Beef' Bennett, and Phil Morgan. Reid showed off some of his snaps from the zine, including some golden moments from over the years at Bute.

Phil came through with some bangin' new prints as well as some of the custom decks he's made over the years, including his increasingly relevant 'Bomb Hills Not Countries' deck.

Beef brought the shock value with his characteristically cynical portrayal of modern life, including Thatcher coming for the new generation of miners, as well as the piece he did for one of our Thrasher ads with Tom Jones and some other suitably Welsh imagery at Bute Square.

Last but not least, Lloyd treated us all to a slightly disturbing look into his mind with his uniquely surreal brand of painting. From Francis Bourgeois as a manatee, to Jim O as the Marquess of Bute, Lloyd's paintings get exponentially weirder the longer you look at them, but that's why we love them. For anyone who missed the event, we'll have Lloyd's work up in the shop until the end of the week so you've still got chance to boggle your brain trying to decipher his cryptically political paintings.

Not only did the exhibition feature artwork from some of the biggest legends Cardiff has to offer, we also unveiled our new CSC shop decks. We've teamed up with Phil Morgan for a new range of decks, featuring artwork that you may recognise from our stairs in 13 Church Street. Coming in at just £50, the decks were printed by the legends over at Sisu Boardshop because everybody knows we're all about keeping it local. Whether you're grabbing one to skate or if it's for the wall, make sure you don't miss out because these won't be around for long.

That's enough chit-chat though. Head to the shop to buy one of our new CSC decks. Or, check out more skate-related content on the CSC Blog. Safe.